Friday, January 04, 2008

IS OBAMA THE ONE?

I wish Morphius was here to tell me if Obama is The One - our Neo.

In February of last year I wrote a piece about needing a new leader. Someone who understands that the world today is different from yesterday's world. Someone who actually has a different mind set about technology, politics, resources, etc.

For me, the speeches by the dem candidates after the Iowa results were in were very telling. John Edwards launched into his angry class warfare campaign speech - the big corporations are the evil doers. He reminded me of speeches I heard, and gave, about 30-40 years ago as a young radical. It's not that I necessarily disagree with his premise, but the class warfare rant is old politics, and I don't think it moves things forward.

Hillary Clinton was more polite than John - she actually congratulated the front-runners. But then she hit hard on her basic theme - she is the only one with experience. She's been there done that, in the trenches, in the White House, carry the good past forward, etc. Again, I tend to think we need new ideas, new constructs of global reality, new understandings.

So that leads me to Barak Obama. Does he really get it? Is he really in a different political generation than John and Hillary? Does he understand that globalization and all that it entails is a new paradigm in human history that requires a different politics?

Is he The One?

4 comments:

  1. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. It's a very exciting election year.

    I think it gives an opportunity to reflect on what issues are important for us as individuals. Immigration? The war? Universal health care?

    Personally, it's a tough call. I want tight borders (and I was once an illegal immigrant, albeit in a different country), financial conservatism (no national debt), universal health care (it's not perfect, but it's better than what we've got), peace, great education, less corporate influence in government - so who's the perfect candidate?

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  2. It's a tough call for me, too. I don't know who might be The One (I doubt there is such a person), but I hope we pick the right one to win in November. The last thing we need is someone who is more focused on amendments to the constitution regarding gay marriage and abortion than they are on things like health care, fiscal responsibility, and ensuring the US stays in front of all the other economies of the world in innovation, education, and entrepreneurism.

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  3. And what about a candidate who will advocate alternative energy and really follow through so that peace may someday be possible?

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  4. Maria, it sounds like you want to vote for Al Gore.

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